PROJECTS THAT WORK

Whether you work with individuals or large companies, successful execution and delivery of your product or service is the key to repeat business from your clients.  Managing projects can be overwhelming at times especially when they involve numerous components.  Here are a few tips to keep you on track and your clients happy with any size project.

1. Timeline: Create a timeline with milestones. This makes a job with many parts easier to handle.  You may have many “lanes” going at the same time, however a clear plan showing what needs to be accomplished along the way, will help the project continue to move forward.  We all love to check things off our list and feel that sense of accomplishment.  Milestones help us do that and keep us motivated.
2. Communication: There is no better way to build rapport with your client than to provide complete, correct, concise updates on a regular basis.  Depending on the project scope, you may need to communicate every day.  Consider the urgency of the project when determining your communication plan.  Not every client will want the same type of communication so be sure to understand how your client operates when delivering information.  It may be a phone call, an email, a hand delivered update, or a text.  Agree on the method before you even start the project. Lastly, don’t shy away from communicating delays.  Be up front with your client and you’ll earn their respect.
3. People: Project management is as much about managing the people involved as it is about pulling the project together.  Keep your team focused even if you are the only team member! Make sure they have the training and tools to do the job and check in with them often to provide support and direction.  Creating processes that they can follow for projects that your company performs on a regular basis will help them develop skills and be consistent.
4. Solutions: Every project has hiccups!  As a service or product provider, be sure to have a solution to present to your client or customer.  They want the product and it’s your job to make it happen so focus on the best way to accomplish that along the way.  Every time you work with someone new, you’ll find new ways to speed up a process or to accomplish a task.  It may be challenging at times however focusing on solutions to any problem with build confidence in your abilities with all of your clients and put them at ease during the process.

Planning is the key to being an effective project manager.  There are so many tools to utilize in project management to assist operations, however, utilize what makes sense for you.  A simple excel spreadsheet can do the trick for many smaller projects.

After it’s all done, be sure to analyze how you did and what changes you can make for the next time.  It will help you and your team to continually improve.

Make a plan, deliver the goods!